The good news is that our Border Patrol agents intercepted a significant
load of illegal drugs, in this case, ecstasy, from entering the United
States. The bad, indeed, disturbing news is that the news release does
not make note of who the driver of the vehicle was! Nor is there any
mention as to how many other people were in the vehicle with him. All
that is noted at the end of the press release is:

Agents stopped the described vehicle leaving this area and with consent
from the driver conducted a search of the vehicle and two conspicuous
suit cases seen in the rear cargo area. A total of 120,000 tablets of
Ecstasy valued at $1,440,000 were discovered inside the suitcases.
“This clearly shows our ability to rapidly respond to simultaneous
threats occurring along our border,” commented Chief Bates of
the Blaine Sector.

The DEA took custody
of the suspects, vehicles and contraband.

As I recall, back
in the days when I attended high school we were taught that a good report
answered the questions: "Who, What, Where, When, Why and How."

Isn't it interesting that the first question, "Who" was never
answered?

The United States Border Patrol used to be a division of the INS (Immigration
and Naturalization Service). You would think that any article written
by the agency that superceded a component of the INS, CBP, would have
considered the identity and nationality of the smugglers caught with
such a significant quantity of drugs to be of sufficient importance
to have, at least, made mention of this fact!

Ever since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, the
lackluster enforcement of the immigration laws became an even lower
priority than it had previously been. This is more than ironic, it is
absolutely unacceptable!

The 911 Commission came to the obvious conclusion that it was the laxity
of border security to be found at ports of entry (in addition to the
land borders that are supposed to separate the United States from Canada
and Mexico) that enabled the terrorists to enter our country and carry
out their deadly attacks. This was further exacerbated by a lack of
integrity within the immigration benefits program by which aliens are
accorded resident alien (lawful immigrant) status and even United States
citizenship.

On May 5, 2005 I testified before the House Subcommittee on Immigration,
Border Security and Claims at a hearing that was entitled:

I have made the point, repeatedly, that other than both being border
agencies, the former U.S. Customs Service and the former Immigration
and Naturalization Service had nothing in common. That is why Customs
used to be on the chain of command of the Treasury Department while
INS had been a division of the Department of Justice.

I had, in fact, advocated (prior to the creation of the DHS) that all
of the enforcement divisions of the INS should have been placed under
a single command structure to create a seamless enforcement program.
I came to refer to this approach as the "Immigration Enforcement
Tripod."

Under this arrangement the enforcement of the immigration laws at ports
of entry would be conducted by the immigration inspectors, the enforcement
of the immigration laws between ports of entry and the critically important
enforcement of the immigration laws from within the interior of the
United States would have been conducted by the special agents of the
INS.

Under the structure of the DHS, enforcement components of the immigration
law enforcement program were merged with a number of other agencies
and were also divided. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) which
deals with the enforcement of customs and immigration laws along with
other law enforcement entities such as Secret Service, was separated
from the border enforcement program that was moved to CBP.
I have noted on a number of occasions that our government had created
a bureaucratic wall that divided the enforcement program that was supposed
to create a barrier against those who would enter our country in violation
of law and threaten our security and our safety.

As I stated in my testimony at the hearing I noted above:

"It is vital that there be real accountability and real leadership
where immigration is concerned. While Customs and Immigration were both
border enforcement agencies, the border is where their similarities
begin and end. I would, therefore, strongly recommend that the law enforcement
officers charged with enforcing the immigration laws have a dedicated
chain of command with a budget and training program that focuses on
immigration. Certainly they can and should work cooperatively with the
former Customs enforcement agents, but they need a separate identity
in order to make certain that the current ''Customization'' of immigration
law enforcement stops immediately for the security of our Nation. The
enforcement of our immigration statutes needs to be the priority, and
not an afterthought."

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I wish that the
failure to mention the identity or at least the nationally or immigration
status of those who were involved with the smuggling of more than 2
million dollars worth of ecstasy into our country was an oversight,
but I am certain that it was of scant importance to the agencies that
are supposed to be involved in the security of our nation's border!

This press release was written by CBP! It would have been hard to understand
if a reporter from a newspaper wrote the article and committed this
oversight, but it is absolutely unacceptable that CBP would consider
that information to be of such insignificance that they did not mention
it!

I hope that if the individuals who were arrested were aliens, that CBP
at least lodged detainers so that their deportation will be sought when
they have served their prison sentences, presuming that they are successfully
prosecuted.

If those who were arrested by the Border Patrol are United States citizens,
then that should have been stated in the article. The point is that
I am concerned that this article makes it appear that no one at CBP
cares!

Yesterday I watched a program on the History Channel that detailed the
work being done to protect our nation from terrorist attacks. In one
telling segment, a remotely controlled aircraft was shown to have the
technology to find tunnels that were dug between the United States and
Mexico. The technology appeared to be truly amazing, if it works as
advertised.

Forgive my cynicism, I have seen far too many "dog and pony"
shows that were more about creating illusions than they were about the
reality of the situation.

The DHS spokesman who talked about the technology spoke about how the
discover of those tunnels would help to prevent weapons of mass destruction
and narcotics from making their way into the United States. Incredibly,
the DHS representative failed to state what I would have imagined to
be the obvious: securing the border would also help to keep the terrorists
out of the United States, along with criminals, gang members and illegal
aliens whose intentions were to violate our borders and our laws!

On another occasion, I stated that the "shotgun wedding" that
paired immigration and customs created a marriage that would never be
consummated!

Many of the managers at ICE and within the inspections program at CBP
had come from legacy Customs and these people had little experience
with, or interest in, enforcing the immigration laws.

Here is yet another place where the new administration can provide us
with real "Change we can believe in:"

Make the enforcement of the immigration laws and the security of our
nation's borders against the entry of illegal aliens a major priority!

If the goal is to create an economic stimulus to jump start our nation's
economy, then it must be understood that the hiring of alien workers
creates a two fold problem. It leads to the displacement of American
workers who are, already losing their jobs, by the thousands, each and
every day.

Additionally, when foreign workers get paid, they tend to send as much
of their earnings as possible back to their families in their home countries.
This runs contrary to the concept of the economic stimulus program that
We the People have been told by the "leaders" of our nation
is supposed to pump money into the economy of the United States!

This concept is
not rocket science! This does not require an advance degree in accounting
or economics to understand. This is common sense!

A couple of years ago, one of the cell phone companies ran a series
of commercials in which a guy with a cell phone was seen walking all
over the United States making a call on his cell phone and asked, "Can
you hear me now?"

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It is time that
"We the People" called our elected representatives and asked
them, "Can you hear us now?!"

Good citizenship does not end at the voting booth but it simply begins
there. In order for our representative democracy to represent us, we
need to communicate with our elected representatives to let them know
in clear and unequivocal terms what we want.

Michael
W. Cutler graduated from Brooklyn College of the City University of New
York in 1971 with a B.A. in Communications Arts and Sciences. Mr. Cutler
began working for the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in
October 1971 when he entered on duty as an Immigration Inspector assigned
to John F. Kennedy International Airport. In August 1975 he became a Criminal
Investigator (Special Agent) for the INS at NYC.

He rotated through
virtually every squad in the Investigations Branch. From 1988 until 1991
he was assigned as the INS representative to the Unified Intelligence
Division (UID) of the DEA in New York. In 1991 he was promoted to the
position of Senior Special Agent and was assigned to the Organized Crime,
Drug Enforcement Task Force (OCDETF) which required that he work with
members of other law enforcement agencies including the FBI, DEA, ATF,
U.S. Customs and local and state police as well as law enforcement organizations
of other countries including Israel, Canada, Great Britain and Japan,
to conduct investigations of aliens involved in major drug trafficking
organizations. He retired from the INS in February 2002, after a career
that spanned some 30 years.

Finally, Michael
Cutler has appeared on numerous television and radio programs including
Lou Dobbs, Fox News, MSNBC and many other television and radio news-oriented
programs to discuss the enforcement of immigration laws.

I wish that the failure
to mention the identity or at least the nationally or immigration status
of those who were involved with the smuggling of more than 2 million dollars
worth of ecstasy into our country was an oversight, but I am certain that
it was of scant importance to the agencies that are supposed to be involved
in the security of our nation's border!